Stephen King’s The Running Man has officially been rated by the MPA, continuing a tradition set by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original movie. The Running Man remake sees Glenn Powell take on the role of Ben Richards, a Runner trying to win the deadly, titular competition to save his sick daughter. The film adapts King’s 1982 novel of the same name.
Now, Film Ratings has listed The Running Man on their website, confirming the 2025 adaptation has been rated R by the MPA. The listing says the rating is because of “strong violence, some gore, and language.” This aligns it with the 1987 movie starring Schwarzenegger, which also earned an R rating when it was released.
The Running Man is expected to be a very different adaptation in contrast to the one starring Schwarzenegger. The new version is directed by Egar Wright, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Michael Bacall. The movie is aimed to be a more faithful adaptation of the original novel by King, which is very different from its 1987 film counterpart.
Beyond Powell, the cast of The Running Man will consist of plenty of familiar faces. This includes Josh Brolin as Dan Killian, the show’s producer, Colman Domingo as Bobby Thompson, the host of the show, and Lee Pace as Evan McCone, a hunter who poses a major threat to Ben’s life as his favoritism makes the games’ viewership skyrocket.
The rating continues a tradition not just for The Running Man adaptations, but for all of Stephen King adaptations across 2025. This includes R ratings for The Monkey and The Long Walk, alongside a TV-MA rating for MGM+’s The Institute. For the Powell-led movie, however, it’s less to do with horror aspects and more with its action thriller elements.
Because of the movie’s unique approach to the original, promising an adaptation more befitting of King’s original work, the R rating will help it to emphasize the elements of the novel that the previous adaptation didn’t. The trailers signify the movie will pull from the pages of the book while also maintaining its own identity in the process.
With The Running Man fast approaching theaters, it seems like the film is going to have plenty of violent action sequences reflective of the high-octane nature of the game. Since there’s a very different tone to the movie in contrast to Schwarzenegger’s rendition, it seems like the perfect rating to coincide with the film’s promising attributes.